


Rock Me

by southernbookgirl



Category: NCIS
Genre: 17x20, Emotional Connection, F/M, Season Finale, The Arizona
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23643748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/southernbookgirl/pseuds/southernbookgirl
Summary: Nothing can ever stay forever inside a bottle.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop & Nick Torres, Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	Rock Me

_“Grief is the price we pay for love.” –Queen Elizabeth II_

* * *

Eleanor Bishop hadn’t cried in a long time what her mom called a “deep cry,” a cry that is so heartbreaking, so gut-wrenching, that you felt like your lungs and heart would be ripped out of your chest from the emotional beating you took. But, in that moment, as she stared at the pictures of Pearl Harbor – the damage wrought, the men who lost their lives, the survivors and their stories fading away with each passing day, with the living words becoming nothing more than a distant memory to so many – her heart burst. In her big recliner, in the middle of her living room, she cried.

She cried for her family, for the memories and stolen moments of her beloved grandfather, her “Pa-Pooh,” she lost in college. She cried for her relationships, the broken, shattered pieces that seemed to paint a picture she would never live out her days old and grey with someone by her side. She cried for her children who didn’t exist, for the loved ones she lost in her line of work, for the inner strength she gained the last few months that only strengthened the rare appearance of the piercing pang of loneliness.

Ellie Bishop was a strong woman; no one close to her contested that fact. But in these moments where her work and exhaustion overwhelmed her, she had to let it out. The recent stories of coronavirus patients, young and old cut off from their families and loved ones as they neared their last breath, ripped a piece of her heart. Imagining a nonagenarian veteran, who gave their life and limb to protect and serve their country, only to die alone with little more than a suited-up nurse who could come no closer than a few feet to the bed because of the virus – it haunted her. When Nick had lay at death’s door, Ellie then had the comfort of knowing she could hold his hand, rub her thumb over his throbbing pulse, and hear the beeping monitors to know he was alive. He was there, breathing, with her. But with Joseph Smith, the haunted look in his eyes as he pleaded with Gibbs to believe him, his story, and fulfill his last wish – that unlocked a part of her heart and soul she had hidden away for so long. And in that moment, Ellie wanted nothing more than to release it. She wanted to feel the love, experience the loss, and no longer try to protect herself from the world and its uncertainty and pain.

Amidst her river of tears and the storm of her emotions, Bishop hadn’t heard the soft triple knock, several times over, on her door. She had missed the careful turning of the knob as the door creaked open, with the footsteps as quiet as church mice to deposit the keys on the kitchen counter. Ellie missed the sharp inhale of breath at her hunched-over figure, weeping into a large, tufted pillow. It was only when strong arms encircled her did she realize who was there.

“Nick?” she whimpered, never looking up from the pillow’s deep colours.

“Yeah, Ellie?” His response was so quiet, so tempered, anyone not attuned to his voice would have missed it.

“Stay with me…please?” With no response needed, Nick picked Bishop up and took her in his arms. She curled up in a ball on his lap, a blanket from the back of the chair now draped over them both. Torres settled into the recliner, Ellie’s head nestled in his shoulder, neither one uttering a word, his steady heartbeat the only sound Ellie heard as he gently rocked her to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired in part by the emotional journey I took after the unexpected death of my grandfather my senior year in college. Pa-Pooh, I love you, I miss you.


End file.
